Ashland Rovers — Sat 23 Oct 2010

Match report

Half time: 2 – 2

After the heartbreak of the last minute defeat to Santos, Samba attempted to get their league season back on track with a home fixture against Ashland Rovers, whom they narrowly defeated in the 1st Round of the FA Cup just three weeks previous. Gibbons elected to leave both himself and marathon man Francis on the bench in a 4-5-1 line up that saw first starts of the season for C.Taylor and Tuxford. Ashland Rovers started the match the brighter, but were undone by an early set piece. Wilford hit a low corner that was pulled back to G.Taylor who shot on the slide from 12 yds out to give Samba the lead. It was the last action for G.Taylor who had been struggling with a thigh strain for several weeks and he was replaced by Francis, with Street the lone striker. Samba struggled for the second successive game at their new home, Ashland passed the ball better and the Sandboys looked low on confidence after three defeats in their opening four league games. When he could keep his feet Francis looked in decent nick, on one occasion roasting the full back with a mazy dribble before being denied by the goalkeeper. It was Ashland who struck next though, a well worked goal from left to right, with the ball centred for the Ashland man to strike firmly, unopposed past Nicholls for 1-1. The equaliser bought an instant reply from Samba and again Wilford was the creator. His free-kick was swung in for Street to meet with a header, as Ashland demonstrated their own frailties from set pieces. Taking the lead for the second time still didn't give Samba the confidence boost required and when Ashland equalised again before half-time, you had to admit it was deserved. Samba gave away possession in the full back area and never recovered with Ashland exchanging passes in Samba's box before a left foot strike from 10yds brought the game level once again.

The second half largely followed the pattern of the first period with Ashland perhaps the more composed but the lack of quality was disappointing. The game was evenly poised and it was the home side that showed sufficient quality to open the door for a fifth goal of the match. Francis was released down the Samba left and when his ball was flicked on by Wilford, to young Street, he finished well for his fifth goal of the season., whilst the skipper claimed a hatrick of assists. At 3-2 up it was imperative that Samba saw out the match, but it wasn't to be, as Ashland struck back for a third time. This time the goal came direct from a corner, as Samba's poor goals against record continued. At 3-3 the game could have gone either way and Samba rallied to enjoy perhaps their best period of the game for the final 10 minutes. However, they couldn't force a winner, and neither could Ashland and so the spoils were shared, but you could sense that the Samba players were not happy with their performance.